The present invention relates to supervising a network, that is a network of electronic components comprising, for example, workstations, personal computers, servers, hubs, routers, bridges, switches, (hereinafter referred to as components of the network), and links between these components which may be in the form of physical cable or wireless links. The network may be a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or other types and may operate in accordance with any desired protocol.
After such a network has been installed, it is desirable for the person appointed network manager to be able to understand the technical operation of the network. In known network management systems, the manner in which the relevant data is retrieved from the managed devices, compiled and displayed has been problematic in several respects. Firstly, the data received from each of the managed devices is simply compiled and displayed as a list of data for the user to interpret. Secondly, the data does not provide information about unmanaged devices. Thirdly, information about a given network device, such as the type of device, location of the device on the network and operating speed of the device, may be contained in different sections of the compiled data. Consequently, conventional systems are cumbersome and difficult to use.
In co-pending UTK patent applications numbers 9910843.3, 9910844.1, 9910845.8, 9910838.3, 9910837.5, 9910839.1, (each in the name of the assignee of the present application) which are incorporated herein, we describe various arrangements for providing automatic interrogation of the network to thereby produce a network map which may be displayed on a visual display unit showing the components and links between the components. At its simplest, and where the component is a xe2x80x9cmanagedxe2x80x9dcomponent, this is usually provided by interrogation using a known protocol, such as the SNMP protocol, of the so-called xe2x80x98agentxe2x80x99 of each component which stores the components unique MAC address, the type of component and the MAC addresses the components which are connected to the ports directly or indirectly.
It is desirable in this supervising capacity to be able to determine the types of link which are available on the network. For example, it is useful to be able to determine readily the speed and capacity of each link. This is particularly desirable where, after some time and changes to the network, it may not be immediately obvious to the network supervisor as to capacity of the network and by simply identifying the types of each link, it is possible to anticipate problems and instigate changes to the network before those problems arise.
The present invention relates to graphical representation of the connections between network devices and their configuration.
The present invention provides a computer program on a computer readable medium or embodied in a carrier wave for use in supervising a network, said program comprising:
program means for accessing information relating to the components of the network and the links between those components;
program means for converting said information into a form to provide a visual display on a visual display apparatus, the visual display representing the physical relationship between the components of the network and the links between these components;
program means to provide a distinct type of visual image for each type of link;
program means for determining from said information the type of each link;
whereby said program causes said visual display apparatus to provide a visual representation of said network in which at least some of the links are visually distinguished according to type (for example, showing whether the links are full duplex or half duplex, are resilient, are trunk links, and their speed of operation)
The present invention also provides a method of supervising a network comprising:
converting information relating to the components of the network, the links between them, and the type of each link into a visual display on a visual display apparatus, the visual display representing the physical relationship between the components of the network and the links between those components;
and processing the information to provide a distinct type of visual image for each type of link.
The present invention also provides a network supervising apparatus comprising:
a store, in use, storing information relating to the components of the network, the links between those components, and the type of each link;
a visual display apparatus connectable with said store and including processor apparatus to convert the information in said store into a visual display on said visual display apparatus, the visual display representing the physical relationship between the components and the links of the network;
said processor apparatus processing the signals to said visual display to visually distinguish at least some of said links according to type.